November - gone by too fast!
It seems like in the blink of an eye the month of November is already past, and we’re now into December and about to begin the last wave of American Racing for the year! Before we dive headfirst into December racing we wanted to recap the team’s happenings for the month of November, and hear a bit about Raylyn’s trip over to the Czech Republic.
Raylyn after crossing the finish line at World Cup Tabor. - Image Flip Bezdek
The month started out in Hyde’s neck of the woods in Northampton, Mass for NoHo CX weekend where both Raylyn and Stephen took on the weekend. Raylyn capped off both Saturday and Sunday with podium finishes, and hard learned lessons on how to win a race. Raylyn is gaining more experience and learning the art of race craft with each weekend, and two sprint finishes added to the learning pot.
Hyde wrapped up both days in the top 10 after battling in the top 3, but suffering a few crashes and mishaps, but throttled his way through to remain in the top 10 despite it all!
After the NoHo weekend wrapped up, Charlie, Chris and Raylyn headed to Boston where Chris and Charlie would set up a city service course down an alley in Boston to pack up 2 of Raylyn’s race bikes, 7 sets of wheels, Feedback trainer and work stand, Chris’s tool wrap, Muc-Off supplies, and SRAM spare parts to make the journey to the Czech Republic for World Cup Tabor.
Words from Raylyn on the trip to Czech Republic -
Chris and I landed in Prague, Czechia on a Tuesday both managing to get at least 3 hours of sleep on the flight over. Things seemingly were as stress-free as possible: all luggage made it with no issues, and rental car was dialed! After a quick stop at a cafe to caffeine up to make it through the day (to stay up as late as possible to try and begin the time equilibration) we toured around Prague to catch a few sights before the sun set. We then made our journey down to Tabor where Chris would set up shop in our Airbnb and get one of my bikes ready, and I went out to the local grocery store to stock us up for a few days. I love checking out new grocery stores (nerd alert - Stephen and I both geek out over this), but especially in Europe. After some dinner I hit the trainer to flush out the travel legs for just over an hour.
Wednesday and Thursday were normal training days, and one of my favorite things to do while I’m on the road is create new routes to get out and really explore where I’m visiting. I actually did the entire Czech block only using my Garmin Fenix 6S Solar watch! I would create the routes using Garmin Connect, and send them directly to the device and was able to LiveTrack my rides with Chris so he could keep tabs on me.
Ugh the riding around Tabor was so good! My ride on Thursday was an all time top 10 route. There are a lot of forests in Czech, so think riding through tree-lined roads (both pine and a lot of apple trees) with rolling hills that went from small township to small township. It was broken up nicely to where I would hit intervals between towns.
Friday Chris and I went out to walk the World Cup course and Chris brought wheels in case I was able to hop on. I rode over to the course from the Airbnb - which was only a few miles. There were a few junior athletes on the course so we figured we’d hop on and ride until someone kicked us off, and no one did! We basically had the course to ourselves on Friday to session, and talk through parts of the course.
Saturday was your standard pre-ride day. I went out for a few hard laps dialing in what I had worked on from Friday’s ride. We had our standard pasta pre night dinner.
Sunday - race day. World Cup Tabor. With rainfall over night the course still remained fast. Well known for the iconic uphill barriers. This course was broken up well; you had your lower more technical section at the start of the lap with an off-camber ditch, and your top end of the course - or the fitness section - because of the elevation. The barriers and staircase were both perfectly placed in the steepest parts of the hillside. EXTREMELY impressive to have watched the replay and see Puck Pieterse hopping the barriers each lap! (The future of women’s cyclocross!) I personally was not stoked on my result I had finally broken into the top 30 and crashed on a corner as they got slicker as the race went on, and in a race that fast I just couldn’t fully bounce back. The biggest takeaway from the race for me was continuing to learn about what tire pressures work for me, and knowing to ride lower pressures. The best way to continue to gain experience in the World Cup field is to continue diving into it! I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m here for that challenge!
Wednesday Chris and I went a little south of Tabor to race a Toi Toi Cup C2 race. Held on a Wednesday because it was their Republic Freedom and Democracy Day. This proved to be a treat as the smaller Czech racing scene is strong and welcoming! I wrapped up the day in 2nd place on a cold day where my feet actually went numb after a few laps into the race.
We celebrated our last day in Tabor at a cool restaurant in Tabor in an underground cave. (Also - Chris and I did not have a bad meal our entire time in Czech. The food was great!) We woke up on Thursday and drove up to Prague to get a COVID test so we could fly back into the United States, and then spent the day as tourists exploring Prague!
It was truly a great experience to be able to get a mid-season short Europe trip in. I’m really thankful to have these opportunities to continue to build race knowledge, and have a little fun along the way.
Check out some of the images I captured on the trip below.
While Raylyn raced in Czechia, our GingerBoi, Mr. Hyde, held down the fort in North America at the Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross in Falmouth, Mass. Another solid two days of racing for Stephen as he landed top 10s both days.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday as our team was scattered throughout the country in their hometowns spending some quality time with family!
This team has so much to be thankful for - health and happiness are among the top on that list!
Cheers, and see you in December!
Words by Raylyn Nuss
NoHo race imagery: Daghan Perker
World Cup Tabor imagery: Filip Bezdek
Czech Republic imagery: Raylyn Nuss
